Prices on Chinese-made goods selling on Amazon have reportedly been increasing faster than overall inflation.
That’s according to a report Monday (June 30) by Reuters, citing an analysis of 1,400 different products by analytics firm DataWeave.
The analysis found that price increases for those goods sped up starting in May, a sign that U.S. tariffs are starting to filter through to consumers.
The median price of a basket of more than 1,400 products produced in China and sold on Amazon to American customers rose 2.6% between January and mid-June, exceeding the latest U.S. inflation rate, which rose 1% between the start of the year and the end of May.
Among the products whose prices have increased the fastest include school and office supplies, electronics like printers and shredders, and home furnishings and cookware.
Karthik Bettadapura, co-founder and CEO of DataWeave, told Reuters that while seasonal dynamics could be a contributing factor, the timing and rate suggest cost shocks are rumbling across the retail supply chain.
“Even modest duties can translate quickly when margins are thin and replenishment cycles are fast. What we’re seeing in June is the first broad-based price step-up, as sellers begin adjusting to higher landed costs,” Bettadapura said.
“We have not seen the average prices of products offered in our store change up or down appreciably outside of typical fluctuations across millions of items on Amazon, and we continue to meet or beat prices versus other retailers across the vast selection of products in our store,” a company spokesperson told PYMNTS.
“Without being able to review the full data analysis from Reuters and Dataweave, we cannot fully investigate these claims, but any comparison of a small number of products does not reflect prices more broadly across the hundreds of millions of products available on Amazon.”
In other tariff-related news, forthcoming research from PYMNTS Intelligence shows that a third of American consumers have been told by retailers that the levies are behind the increasing costs of goods, with younger and financially vulnerable households suffering the most.
“It all means that abstract discussions of global trade policy are no longer confined to policy papers or Washington, D.C., boardrooms,” PYMNTS wrote last week.
For millions of U.S. consumers, the report said, the consequences of tariffs can be seen directly on store shelves, in the form of steeper price tags on a wide range of products, from everyday groceries to household essentials and apparel.
“This shift from geopolitical abstraction to concrete personal financial strain is particularly acute for households already navigating tight budgets,” the report added.
“As tariffs continue to reshape product pricing, U.S. consumers find themselves on the front lines of an evolving trade war.”
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